Asia and world trade

Two recent pieces on Asia and global trade rules:

1. Global Value Chains, trade policy and Asia - highlights the importance of GVCs to Asia

"Overall, there is huge potential for the spread of GVCs — sectorally in manufacturing, services, agriculture and energy, and geographically beyond the present hubs of NAFTA, the EU and East Asia. The big geographic prize is the extension of GVCs to South Asia, where much labour-intensive manufacturing production could be located."

2.  Future of the world trading system: Asian perspectives - highlights the role of Asia in the growth of world trade

"In the longer term, better coherence is vital between Asia’s regional trade rules and global trade governance. Improving the quality of large Asia-wide trade agreements, a WTO agenda on supply chains and trade agreements, and significant reforms of the WTO are necessary moves towards this end. Issue-based plurilateral agreements and an eventual multilateral agreement on investment can also play a role in facilitating coherence between regional and global rules on trade."

Some interesting insights into Asia and world trade.